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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26499262">Talking Circles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieBethBug/pseuds/KatieBethBug'>KatieBethBug</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>But just barely, Established Realtionship, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:36:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,385</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26499262</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieBethBug/pseuds/KatieBethBug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Not a week after defeating Uldred in Kinloch Hold, Eda and Alistair spend an evening discussing the past and watching the stars. The truth isn't always easy, but it is much easier to share when you're laying beside someone you trust. You can call this a prequel to my work Maker's Breath, but it can absolutely stand alone.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alistair/Amell (Dragon Age), Alistair/Female Warden (Dragon Age), Alistair/Warden (Dragon Age)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Maker's Breath Canon Universe</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Talking Circles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>               “Eda,” Alistair began quietly. The pair were laid out on a rough woolen blanket. Up until this moment, they had been staring up at the stars, fingers gently brushing against one another’s. She hummed a questioning tone and turned her head to look at him. In the dark, the scant moonlight from the crescent above them and the dancing flames of the campfire the only sources of light, her tattoos were barely visible on her face, and her eyes looked more like chocolate than their typical molten copper. Her full lips curved upwards and her eyebrows raised, prompting a response from the man beside her. He supposed his eyes must look similar to hers if not darker since his face was now turned away from the firelight. “How old were you when you went to the Circle?”</p><p>               Her expression darkened, the smile dropping fully off her lips. She heaved out a sigh and turned back to face the sky. Alistair squeezed her hand and started to change the subject when she started speaking softly. “I was ten,” she said more to the sky than to Alistair. “My parents had been hiding me and my magic away for three years at least. Finally, it was too much for my father, and he called the templars.”</p><p>               Alistair sat up abruptly and looked down on the white-haired woman. Indignantly, he said, “Your father betrayed you?”</p><p>               Her expression did not change, “Yes. My mother didn’t know, so I suppose she was as heartbroken as I was. Greagoir collected me just after my tenth birthday. I’ve never heard from either of them since.”</p><p>               He gaped at her, “Eda, I-“ he stuttered, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”</p><p>               She shrugged, meeting his eyes, “It’s alright. You may as well know.”</p><p>               “I was ten when Arl Eamon sent me to the monastery,” Alistair stated plainly, resting an elbow against the ground, reclining from his sitting position.</p><p>               “So, you said when we were in Redcliffe.”</p><p>               “You know the closest monastery to Redcliffe was right on Lake Calenhad?”</p><p>               Eda’s eyes flashed over to Alistair’s, and she let out a little huff of laughter, lips quirking upwards, “You’re saying that we spent almost ten years of our lives separated by a small stretch of lake water?”</p><p>               Alistair grinned, “I think so. I spent more than my fair share of time wishing I was up in the tower doing actual templar work instead of reading and copying the Chant of Light over and over.”</p><p>               Her eyes went soft, “Do you think we could have been friends then? Templars and mages tend to fight tooth and nail, you know?”</p><p>               He leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, a ruddy blush covering his cheeks. He hoped the dark concealed just how hot his ears and cheeks were becoming. She rolled onto her side, smiling at him. “I hope so. You were close to that other templar, Cullen, weren’t you?”</p><p>               “Yes,” she said, her voice suddenly full of something dark. Resentment, Alistair supposed. “Cullen and I were almost more than friends. I cared for him, and I thought he felt the same way about me, but I suppose…” Eda trailed off and shuddered, remembering the horrors of the tower they had so recently finished clearing. Less than a week ago, their small party had fought their way through the place that, despite being almost a prison, was more of her home than the manor in Kirkwall was anymore.</p><p>               They had found Cullen near the top. He was raving, having clearly been tortured by demons and mages alike. Eda felt bad for him, but the things he said about mages, the generalizations he made would not leave her thoughts. Except, of course, when she thought of First Enchanter Irving. A pinprick of tears began to start at the inner corners of her eyes; she thought that the range of her tempest spell was not quite large enough to touch the mages being held prisoner by the wall. But it had been. And thanks to her alone, the Rite of Annulment was invoked and her mentor, the only father figure she ever thought mattered, was dead. A streak of tears ran across her cheekbone and her nose, crossing her face before curling down her other cheek and wetting her hair.</p><p>               Alistair reached out and brushed the trail off her cheek before cupping her face in his large palm. With the arm not pressed against the ground, she grasped his upper arm firmly. Eda leaned her head in. Slightly awkwardly, Alistair shuffled closer until he could wrap his arm around her waist and her head was pressed against his broad chest. He pressed a long kiss to her hair, and into it, he said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”</p><p>               In a quavering voice, muffled against the cotton tunic, she responded, “It’s alright, Alistair. It’s all just happened so fast.” She drew in a shuddering breath, “I just haven’t had a moment to take it all in.”</p><p>               He stroked her hair, fingers bumping over the pearls braided into the bun on the back of her head. Absentmindedly, he wondered how it felt to lay flat down on such a thick bunch of hair. Clearly, she was used to it. “Take all the time you need,” he brushed her hair back from her face, “There’s no rush tonight.”</p><p>               She nodded, smiling against him even as her tears wetted his front. After a short moment, she pulled back from him slightly, just enough to look up into his face. “Alistair?”</p><p>               He swept her now-quite-long bangs back and behind her ear, “Yes?”</p><p>               Her eyes glowed in the flickering firelight behind him, “Thank you.”</p><p>               A soft smile covered his lips, causing the skin around his eyes to crinkle slightly, “Thank you for trusting me.”</p><p>               “Of course, I trust you.” She laid a feather-soft kiss on his jaw. The tears were still present in her eyes, but they were sparkling with something more mysterious as well. “And to prove it,” she said, prompting him to raise an eyebrow, “I’ll tell you that my name isn’t Eda.”</p><p>               He pulled back from her slightly, raising himself back on his elbow. If he were not already grown, his voice would crack as he said, “It isn’t?”</p><p>               She let out a little wobbly chuckle, “It is what I’ve been called for almost twelve years, so it may as well be, but Eda is only a nickname.”</p><p>               “Oh?”</p><p>               For a moment she considers telling him that it was Jowan who had called her Eda from the time she knew him because he always let his words trail off and never seemed to manage her full name, but Jowan and his blood magic had already come between her and Alistair in the past. It was not something she liked the idea of bringing back to life.</p><p>               “Some of the younger mages in the Circle had a hard time with some letter sounds. My name is really Edith.”</p><p>               A grin tugged its way onto Alistair’s face, “Edith, eh?”</p><p>               She smiled too, “I don’t suppose it is quite as fitting for me now, but it certainly made sense for the heiress to a noble family.”</p><p>               “So,” he said as he snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her back against him, “should I call you by your title, Lady Edith?”</p><p>               Eda laughed, “Only if I get to call you Prince Alistair.” She cupped the back of his head and brought their smiles together in a soft kiss, “But I think we should use the names we’re used to. And I don’t think anyone else needs to know about my name. Promise you won’t tell?”</p><p>               He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, “I promise.”</p><p>               She leaned up for just a moment, shooting a ray of fire from her fingertip into the campfire, warming the area around them further. Eda laid back down, curling an arm under her head to act as a pillow and resting her other hand on Alistair’s waist. She looked up at him through her lashes, “Goodnight.”</p><p>               “Are we just going to sleep like this?” he asked, eyes sliding shut and hand on her hip adjusting to something more comfortable. She simply hummed her assent. His chest rumbled with a light chuckle, “Alright.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoy these two, check out my fic Maker's Breath. It goes far beyond the end of Origins, tracing the relationship and struggles for Eda and Alistair.</p><p>*I also want to note that when Eda says that she didn't realize her range on tempest was large enough to hurt Irving, I'm not lying. I literally did not think it would touch him and so, yes, as a mage, in my very first playthrough of Origins, I sided with the templars by accident.*</p></blockquote></div></div>
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